Driving simulation system

Abstract

A system and method for simulating a driving experience, such as a racing experience, for a driver of a real-world vehicle is described. The system and method may combine or integrate actions within an augmented reality (AR) environment presented to the driver via a helmet or other virtual user interface (VUI) with movement and/or operation data to anticipate or simulate the effects of virtual vehicle collisions when the driver is operating the vehicle.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A driving simulation system, comprising:
 a virtual racing module that is configured to:
 present a virtual racing environment to a driver of a real-world vehicle,
 wherein the virtual racing environment includes a racetrack via which the driver of the vehicle moves within the virtual racing environment; 
 
 present one or more virtual objects within the virtual racing environment; and 
 determine occurrences of virtual actions between the driver of the vehicle and the presented one or more virtual objects within the virtual racing environment; and 
   a vehicle operation module that is configured to modify operation of the real-world vehicle in response to an occurrence of a virtual action within the virtual racing environment.   
     
     
         2 . The driving simulation system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more virtual objects include avatars representing virtual vehicles also moving via the racetrack within the virtual racing environment; and
 wherein the occurrence of the virtual action within the virtual racing environment includes a virtual collision between the driver of the vehicle and one of the avatars representing virtual vehicles.   
     
     
         3 . The driving simulation system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more virtual objects include displayed objects representing portions of the racetrack within the virtual racing environment; and
 wherein the occurrence of the virtual action within the virtual racing environment includes a virtual collision between the driver of the vehicle and one of the displayed objects representing the portions of the racetrack.   
     
     
         4 . The driving simulation system of  claim 1 , wherein the virtual racing module determines an occurrence of a virtual action when the driver of the vehicle moves away from an apex line displayed on the racetrack via which the driver of the vehicle moves within the virtual racing environment. 
     
     
         5 . The driving simulation system of  claim 1 , wherein the virtual racing module determines an occurrence of a virtual action when the driver of the vehicle within a threshold distance to one or more virtual objects within the virtual racing environment. 
     
     
         6 . The driving simulation system of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle operation module causes a braking function of the vehicle to slow a current speed of the vehicle in response to the occurrence of the virtual action within the virtual racing environment. 
     
     
         7 . The driving simulation system of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle operation module causes a steering function of the vehicle to adjust a direction of movement of the vehicle in response to the occurrence of the virtual action within the virtual racing environment. 
     
     
         8 . The driving simulation system of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle operation module causes a steering function of the vehicle to adjust a direction of movement of the vehicle and a braking function of the vehicle to slow a current speed of the vehicle in response to the occurrence of the virtual action within the virtual racing environment. 
     
     
         9 . The driving simulation system of  claim 1 , wherein the virtual racing module is part of a helmet worn by the driver of the vehicle that presents the virtual racing environment as an augmented reality experience via a heads-up-display supported by the helmet. 
     
     
         10 . The driving simulation system of  claim 1 , wherein the vehicle operation module is part of a computing system of the vehicle. 
     
     
         11 . A method performed by a virtual user interface (VUI) interacted with by a driver of a real-world vehicle, the method comprising:
 presenting a virtual object within a display environment of an augmented reality display presented to the driver of the vehicle via the VUI;   determining the real-world vehicle is predicted to collide within the virtual object within the display environment; and   in response to the predicted collision between the real-world vehicle and the virtual object, transmitting information associated with the predicted collision to a computing system of the real-world vehicle.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the display environment includes a racetrack via which the driver of the vehicle moves; and wherein the virtual object is another vehicle moving within the racetrack. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the display environment includes a racetrack via which the driver of the real-world vehicle moves; and wherein the virtual object is an element of a boundary of the racetrack. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the real-world vehicle is predicted to collide with the virtual object when the vehicle moves away from an apex line presented within the display environment. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the real-world vehicle is predicted to collide with the virtual object when the real-world vehicle moves within a threshold distance of the virtual object. 
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents, when executed by a computing system of a real-world vehicle, cause the real-world vehicle to perform a method, the method comprising:
 receiving instructions from a virtual user interface (VUI) interacted with by a driver of the real-world vehicle; and   modifying operations of one or more components of the real-world vehicle in response to the received instructions.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions identify an occurrence of a virtual action within a virtual environment displayed by the VUI to the driver of the real-world vehicle; and
 wherein the operations of the one or more components are modified based on the identified occurrence of the virtual action with the virtual environment.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein modifying the operations of the one or more components of the real-world vehicle includes modifying a braking operation of the real-world vehicle to slow down the real-world vehicle. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein modifying the operations of the one or more components of the real-world vehicle includes modifying a braking operation of the real-world vehicle to speed up the real-world vehicle. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein modifying the operations of the one or more components of the real-world vehicle includes modifying a steering operation of the real-world vehicle to adjust a direction of the movement of the real-world vehicle.